One of Us
by karivalentina
Summary: OC Maria is recruited into the Dharma Initiative and finds herself trapped on the island with no way of communicating with her family back home. Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles and others will be featured. All REQUESTS and SUGGESTIONS welcomed.
1. Maria

**A/N: **The idea for this story came about as I was writing chapter 18 of my story We Should Get Coffee Sometime. Aside from making the plot for that story ultra-complicated, I also realized that this could potentially be a good story on its own. Although I do have a good idea of what to do with this present story, **I will gladly consider all requests, comments and suggestions.** There will be some romance, but it will not be the main dish (at least not for the time being). The bulk of this story will be my OC character Maria, her induction into the Dharma Initiative and her interaction with other characters such as Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles and others.

**Background information:**

Set in the middle of season 5. Sawyer and Juliet are captured by the Others. Eloise Hawking was present during the birth of Sawyer and Juliet's baby at the Other's temple. She takes the baby. According to Richard Alpert, the baby is special and must be baptized in Spring room, which is the same room where Sayid was resuscitated in season 6.

**1976**

Right after the baby's birth, Eloise bundled him up in a soft blanket, and brought him to Charles Widmore who gave her a quizzical look.

Eloise and Charles had been together for sometime now. They lived in the huts a few miles away from the temple. Normally, their group only came to the temple for special occasions and ceremonies. This was one of those occasions. Word of a baptism had brought them all to the temple a few days ago in preparation.

Charles rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't wait to go back to their home so he could get some time alone with Eloise. For all practical purposes they were newlyweds and he still could not get enough of his new bride.

"Is this your way of telling me you want us to have a child?" he asked with a smirk.

"I don't have to do that…..cause we are going to have a child anyways" Eloise answered back with a playful smile, cradling the baby in the crook of her left arm, her forearm straight up the length of his back. "But you needed to meet this little guy" she straightened Charles' shirt collar with her right hand. "Cause he's special."

"How so?" Charles asked, intrigued. "How does this baptism… make him special?" He added, biting his lip. He shouldn't have brought this up. Maria. Of course Eloise would use the past against him. The last thing he wanted was to discuss Maria with her.

She took her time to answer. "He'll be one of us… You know…like Maria" Eloise gave him a devious smile. "As I recalled, you were the one who finally convinced her to go through with it."

Charles looked away. _Damn! He was not going to discuss her_…. He quickly turned his attention to the baby. "Ellie…this is different…he's really one of them" he said looking at the sleeping baby with a hint of disdain. "You need to give it back…We can have one of our own, you know" He gave her a sly flirty look. "As a matter of fact, we can start right away if you want." _Hopefully, we will close the book on the subject of Maria…._

Eloise looked at him partly amused. _How could she begin to explain? She couldn't. She couldn't really explain it._ "Now, hold your horses, Charles" she gently pulled away from him after kissing him lightly on the lips.

Charles gave her an exasperated look. _Surely, she ought to find a way to put that baby down?_

The baby awoke and yawned. His big blue eyes stared at the two adults as if he was questioning these people and their right to hold him. Eloise stared into the child's eyes, fascinated. She'd been around babies before, but she had never seen a set of eyes so alert, eyes that could penetrate so deep inside your soul…

The baby started fussing. He put his hands in his mouth and his cry had a melodic, low pitched quality to it that did not appear to be particularly stressed.

"Maybe ….you ought to give him to his mother for nursing" Charles nearly demanded with a furrowed brow, quite eager to have the child as far away from his Ellie as possible.

"Nah….she's sleeping. I will give him a bottle myself" Eloise said with a certain sparkle in her eyes. She snuggled her face closer the baby's face. Oh, how she loved that sweet baby scent. She gave him a soft kiss. Something about this baby….

She walked out of the room baby in tow and asked one of her girls to fix a bottle for the infant. While she waited, she was content to play with the baby's tiny hands. _Doesn't even really cry when he's hungry. _ She could already picture herself being the child's caregiver. Could it be possible? If she kept the connection to this baby… if somehow… _Hmmm_…She needed to send a message to Jacob asking if she would be allowed to keep him...

* * *

Richard was talking to one of his people as they prepared for the baptism, when he noticed Charles standing by waiting his turn to speak.

"So, did you find out anything yet?" Charles blurted out as soon as Richard turned towards him.

Richard raised his eyebrows in response.

"Don't tell me you haven't got any information out of these people yet?" Charles went on without waiting for a response. "In case you haven't noticed, this is our chance to break through their secrecy."

"Look…We can't keep them here that much longer. Someone from their security team has been to the huts looking for them" Richard said with concern.

"Finally, the tables are turned! Normally, they're the ones making people disappear off the face of the earth" Charles observed. He had heard from a first hand witness that The Dharma Initiative was indeed a type of cult, where in sworn secrecy as to their methods was a key element to the survival of its members. Maria had told him everything she knew; at least he was convinced that she had indeed told him everything. Somehow, she had wound up at their camp, desperate and terrified. It had been longer than the promised 6 months and yet she had not been allowed to leave the island or contact her family.

Charles had taken the young girl under his wing and hid her when Dharma security had arrived at their camp looking for her. Then, shortly thereafter, she had disappeared. There was speculation that Maria was taken by a polar bear. Charles was not so sure. He believed that the _jumpsuit loving cult_ had something to do with it. She should have never wandered off alone.

"So you're gonna send them on their merry way, aren't you?" Charles mocked in a subdued tone. He looked down at Richard as incompetent. He looked down on everyone, as a matter of fact. "So, where is Maria?"

Richard sighed, furrowing his brow. "I doubt that they had anything to do with that…" he spoke in a dismissive tone.

"You haven't even asked them, have you?" Charles looked at Richard with uttermost disdain. "You never really cared for her…always saw her as one of them!" he spat as he stormed out of the room.

Charles was furious at himself. He felt like an idiot, he might as well been wearing a sign that read_: I'm still madly hung up on Maria._ The thing was that he had failed miserably at trying to hide his attraction towards her from everyone, especially from Eloise who grew increasingly jealous over time, even though at the time he and Eloise were not engaged or fully committed to one another for that matter.

One time Eloise had found them together talking by the boathouse, far away from their camp. His hand had been roaming her bra, yet he was able to move it away quickly before Eloise could get a full view. Charles had tried to explain it all as merely an attempt to get information from Maria. He could tell by Eloise's expression that she was not buying any of it. Nevertheless, he continued trying to prove his point.

"If we can get a handle on how these people do their mind control…we would get the upper hand. Maybe Maria can shed some light into how their system works…"

Eloise laughed heartedly. "Really? As I understand this girl did not have a special ranking or anything…which makes her kind of useless to us" she stared at him with a devilish gleam in her eyes, daring him to come to her defense. "She was only their hired housemaid."

Charles leaned against one the pillars around the pool room. He watched people coming in and out in preparation for the baptism. It seemed as though some of these people did not really have a job except standing around making comments.

He over heard bits and pieces of the conversations. _One of them…one of us._ Isolated words out of context.

"I don't think that's right…I was already baptized on a church" Maria had said reluctantly in her slight Hispanic accent, her dark curly hair bouncing merrily around her face, giving her overall facial expression vivacious movement.

_In a church…. Not on a church._ Charles smiled, she nearly always got her prepositions mixed up; yet he would say nothing. Charles Widmore, a self-proclaimed perfectionist was not only willing to overlook small mistakes like these, but was actually particularly charmed by them.

"It's a sin" Maria said with a mortified look on her face. She truly believed what her Catholic upbringing had taught her: baptism is supposed to happen only once in your lifetime, preferably as an infant. What's more, _what would her mother say if she knew?_ Never mind that the odds of her mother ever finding out were rather slim.

"You'll be one of us, once and for all…" Charles had replied, eager to have her finally commit. He pulled her closer to him, his hands framing her beautiful face. _God, she was so damn gorgeous_; her divine hazel eyes, her naturally sun-kissed skin which was sooo smooth to the touch. _She was so young!_ _Twenty four_. _And she cared for him!_ O course, he wanted nothing more than to take Maria as his wife; any thoughts of Eloise put happily to rest. All Maria had to do was to take that final step.

Maria disappeared without a trace the day after her baptism, exactly six months after wandering into their camp.

**A/N: This note has been edited (8/23/13) **

My main focus will be on We Should Get Coffee Sometime. Thus, I will update this story mostly depending on 1) inspiration 2) general interest from readers. I get most of my inspiration from my readers, so, **if you like this story, or are even somewhat interested,** PLEASE REVIEW! Even if you have to sign out of this site and sign back in as anonymous.

Just let me know what you think. **This story is really for you**. Even though I said the main focus would not be romance, this story is not written in stone. If most of you want romance, the so be it!

Chapter 2: Will start with Maria's arrival on the island (most likely).


	2. Orientation

**A/N:** Chicago Firestarter, imaginarypeanutbutter318 and HappyReader: Thanks for your reviews.

HappyReader: I fixed the typo! Thanks so much!

* * *

Orientation

1975

Maria climbed up the skinny ladder in a daze, squeezing through the narrow space that lead to the final outlet at the top, her heart filled with trepidation. She was still suffering from the after effects of whatever drug she had been given aboard the submarine.

She squinted her eyes at the glaring sun as emerged free from her confinement and planted her feet firmly on the wooden deck. Using her right hand as a shield, she sought to keep the sun from blinding her as she walked slowly along the platform; the sound of her heels making the wood squeak underneath her.

She stopped moving after only a few steps, her heels naturally turning 360 degrees. Mountains. Clear blue sky. Just a few clouds.

Vaguely aware of other people walking up behind her, she started moving forward again.

At the end of the dock, she came upon a man with glasses, long straight hair and with a well-practiced welcoming smile.

Above the man's head there was a wooden sign with the words: 'Namaste' written in black against a white background.

"Namaste" the man said brightly. "I'm Horace….you must be Maria."

"How do you do" Maria said politely, stretching out her hand as a greeting. She felt a rush of warmth to her cheeks and bit her lower lip, for she was suddenly aware of her voice sounding extremely formal. Was her demeanor also foreign and uptight? The worst part was her mother's voice rude and intruding, telling her to watch every detail: smile, posture and appropriate eye contact.

Maria shook her head, her well defined curls beautifully framing her face. How she wished she could just put her mother's voice behind her just as easily as she had left her home state.

Like a prisoner overly eager to finally make parole, she had taken her first opportunity to put miles between her and that maddening-never-ending- constant nagging, hoping that freedom would be the answer. Thus, applying for this job and running away from her life for six months had sounded like the answer to all her problems.

Further, even though part of her felt uncomfortable accepting a position for which she had been given very little information…such as where exactly she was heading to, for instance, she still signed on. In fact, she had been more than willing to sign her release papers to freedom, hoping that this new lease on life would bring her the opportunity to experience the peace of mind she had so craved.

Yet, there was something she had failed to realize.

Who would have guessed that her mother's overcritical voice would stalk her no matter how far? That nothing would stop those overbearing comments from reaching her ears, like the needle of a record player stuck at a particular groove...endlessly repeating itself.

By the time she got around to re-positioning the needle, the old record had already played the same note more times than she cared to remember.

Maria's gaze fell on the people standing around Horace as though they were part of a pre-selected background décor for a photo shoot: Two young women and a man. One of the women had soft curls around her shoulders and a friendly smile; she introduced herself as Casey. The other woman beside her had straight blond hair pulled up in pigtails; her name tag read: June, Technician. A bit further down the line was a dark haired man: Mike, Technician.

Horace led her inside the building wherein an Asian looking man wearing a white lab coat was giving a welcoming message on a 21 inch TV screen . A group of ten people were gathered around to watch. Her ears picked up certain key words, but her brain was still trying to take in everything around her; her senses overwhelmed with new information.

_Welcome to the Island! You are now members of the DHARMA Initiative. There are properties on this Island that exist nowhere else on earth. Our mission is to study these properties for the betterment of mankind and advancement of world peace. _

_For your own comfort and safety, we ask that you stay within the confines of your new living quarters. _

_By now you may have seen some of the security cameras, installed around the premises, in order to insure the safety of our children and families. Our barracks are surrounded by a high frequency sonar fence to protect us from the island's abundant and diverse wildlife._

_We ask that you respect these key members' privacy, and do not enquire about their work, as they are not at liberty to discuss it. But remember: it is for the greater good of the community._

Shortly thereafter, someone sat down with her to discuss the results of the testing which she had completed at the time of her application back in the States. She was told in a neutral tone that she qualified for a job in housekeeping. Every morning, she was to check in with the guests at the bungalows, and make sure that they had everything they needed. In addition, she needed to pick up any laundry and take it to the designated facilities. From what she gathered, her new position would entail a great deal of social interaction.

Later that day, Maria attended the welcoming barbecue, after being shown her new accommodations: she was to share a bungalow with two other young women in her same age group.

At the welcoming barbecue, Maria found herself stuck with her supervisor and Housing Director, Margaret, a woman in her fifties who was not particularly talkative. Maria smiled a well-practiced friendly smile, inwardly flinching as her mind searched frantically for things to say. Generally, she preferred it when others did all the talking, for then she wouldn't have to worry as much.

Her salvation came when Margaret excused herself in order to speak to someone else who had had been waiting patiently for her turn.

Maria smiled, and excused herself too. She thought it was the polite thing to do; the other person would certainly not appreciate her listening to their conversation.

She took a moment to notice how everyone was dressed. Some people were clad in their Dharma Initiative uniforms, while others wore jeans and casual clothing. Maria smoothed out her shirt collar style knee high linen dress, which now seemed too uncomfortable in this hot humid weather. She chastised herself for choosing such a dress; but once again it had been her mother's voice again, telling her that to make a good impression linen was the fabric of choice.

Then, she headed for the table with appetizers. The fruit punch looked so good in the heat of the midday sun. She grabbed a paper cup and was about to help herself, when she noticed an Asian looking man attempting to reach for the clear dispenser at same time as she.

For a few seconds, they both froze in time, unsure of what to do next. Then, the man smiled in a gracious yet shy manner, and gestured for her to go ahead.

Maria gave him a timid smile in return, as she reached for the Jar of fruit punch brimming with dozens of ice cubes.

"Welcome to the island" The Asian man said with a distinct slight accent, as he pressed the button on the drink dispenser. "I'm Jin."

"I'm Maria" she said. She was immediately struck by his demeanor which clearly showed that he was a quiet person. Thus, she relaxed. His quietness suggested he was simply reserved, as opposed to Margaret, whose quiet appearance seemed due to a different reason altogether. She had been quiet as part of her evaluation and thus, had expected for Maria to do her fair share of the talking.

Jin sipped his drink with his right hand, and lifted his eyes over his cup to gaze at her.

At once, she noticed his smooth wedding band shinning against the sun as he raised his right hand. Her gaze then fell on the words 'security' listed underneath his name. She thought about how handsome he would look dressed in something other than such ill-suited tan colored jumpsuit. She shivered at the thought of wearing one those. She'd seen other personnel wearing blue jumpsuits which in her opinion were much better fashion wise.

"Hey, Jin… aren't you supposed to be taking over Phil's shift?" A loud voice asked from the distance.

Jin and Maria turned towards the voice.

Another Asian looking man came towards them in an agitated manner.

"There's been a change…" The other Asian man said. He had an unmistakable American accent. "You must report to security and take over Phil's shift…" He stopped short, his eyes now smiling at Maria. "Hi, there…you must be one of our new recruits."

Jin looked uncomfortable, his eyes narrowed.

Maria nodded. For a few seconds, she wondered whether Jin was going to introduce her. Usually she didn't like to take the initiative; she only introduced herself if she absolutely had to.

"This is Miles" Jin smiled shyly, his eyes glued on Maria. "Maria" he added softly, almost in a whisper.

Maria extended her hand to meet Miles' right hand.

"Nice meeting you" Miles gave Maria a looong appreciative look, while shaking her hand longer than necessary. "I'm actually head of tourism affairs…so if I'll be glad to show you around…" he concluded with a witty smile.

Jin rolled his eyes and looked away.

Maria also looked away; she found Miles' enthusiasm a little unnerving.

* * *

**A/N:** As reference, I'm using the longer version of the Dharma Orientation Video found in the special edition Season 5 Dharma Box Set.

Next chapter will be told from another character's POV. Possibly Sawyer or Miles.

VOTE FOR ONE: 1) Would you like to see Maria fall for Miles? 2) Maria fall for Jin? I know, I know he's married. I'm just asking if SHE should fall for him. 3) Neither option. You would rather this fic focus on the inner workings/mysteries of the Dharma Initiative.

Edited Note: AU in the sense that Jin never gave Locke his wedding band before he went down the well in season 5, episode This Place Is Death.


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